Sony: Wii U is in "Its Own Generation"

Much like the Wii before it, the Wii U will carve out its own niche, opines Sony boss, Shuhei Yoshida.

The Wii was very much the black sheep of the last console cycle. Despite technically being a part of the same generation as the PS3 and 360, the console more closely resembled the PS2 and original Xbox in terms of graphical power. Despite the hardware handicap - Chris Hecker famously described it as "Two Gamecubes duct taped together" - the Wii absolutely dominated the market thanks to an innovative, casual-friendly control scheme and lower price point. The Wii was the clear victor in the seventh generation console wars, but Sony Worldwide Studios president, Shuhei Yoshida, seems to be trying to get it excluded from the competition on a technicality.

"Personally, I have always thought Wii was in a generation of its own," he told Eurogamer ."I always thought PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are in the same generation, but Wii was not the same."

"To me, the industry was growing really fast when those three platforms came up because the focus is so different. The PS3 and the 360 were the closest in terms of high definition and networked services. But Wii carved out a large niche to itself. To me, it was like two generations going at the same time."

"Wii U is the next generation of Wii," he added. "That I understand. To me, it's its own generation."

While the Wii U is supposedly slightly more capable than the Xbox 360 and PS3, it seems unlikely that it'll be able to match Microsoft and Sony's next-gen efforts in terms of hardware. Whether that actually matters remains to be seen.